“People just love the sound of that name. It comes across as very Aussie, it’s easy to spell, it’s cute for a little boy but strong for an adult,” Ms Sheil said.

In contrast, the top girls’ name for 2008 is a relative newcomer, Mia. The name was virtually non-existent in Australia before 1970 and as recently as 2002 still languished near the bottom of the top 100 list.

In 2003 it suddenly emerged at No.11 and has been rising ever since – no doubt helped by the fact that Bec and Lleyton Hewitt named their daughter Mia in 2005, the year it first entered the top 10.

Other popular names this year included Isabella, with derivatives Isabelle and Isabel as well as similar-sounding names Ella and Bella all in the top 100.

A report on names published by McCrindle Research this year found only 17 per cent of newborns took a name from a celebrity, while 66 per cent were named after a family member, 17 per cent after friends and 12 per cent after historical figures.

The mothers of the five Jacks photographed by The Sun-Herald last week all loved the strength and simplicity of the moniker.

Deanne Omar, mother of Jack Somerville, 8 months, said she liked the fact that the name could not be abbreviated.

Sylvia Myers named her Jack, 20 months, after his great-grandfather.

Alex Carlton, mother of Jack Walsh, 2, said she knew the name was popular, but did not care: “It’s honest and straightforward – we loved it.”

Lisa Kilby, mother of Jack, 3, was also unperturbed by the name’s popularity. “It really suits him,” she said. For Melanie Gittany, mother of Jack, 4, the appeal was simple: “It’s a good, strong name.” TOP 10 FOR 2008

INCREASED publicity about the link between vitamin D deficiency and a range of health problems has caused some Australians to scale back their sun protection, putting them at higher risk of skin cancer, an alarming new study has found.

The survey of 2100 people by the Queensland Cancer Council found about one-third of people aged 20 to 75 years believed fair-skinned adults and children needed at least 30 minutes a day in the summer sun to maintain adequate vitamin D levels.

But a group of skin, bone and cancer experts agree most Australians need only a few minutes of sunlight on their face, arms and hands in the sun to get enough vitamin D – and any more in summer puts them at increased risk of skin cancer.

It comes as a review by the International Agency for Research on Cancer finds there is no evidence that vitamin D deficiency raises the risk of prostate or breast cancer despite many epidemiological and preclinical studies around the world suggesting a link. However, there is a link for colorectal cancer.

"Anecdotally, a lot of the news on vitamin D has been used as a bit of an excuse by people who like going out into the sun to get more sun," Australasian College of Dermatologists honorary secretary Stephen Shumack said.

The survey, presented at the annual meeting of the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia, found more than 20 per cent of respondents had reduced their own sun protection behaviours and 14 per cent had lessened the slip, slop, slap regime for their children in response to reports about vitamin D deficiency.

But Dr Shumack, a consultant at Royal North Shore Hospital, said the message about vitamin D deficiency hasn’t been reaching the people who would benefit from getting additional sun exposure – particularly dark-skinned people, veiled women, babies and infants of vitamin D deficient mothers and nursing-home patients.

Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world. Sun exposure is the cause of about 99 per of non-melanoma skin cancers and 95 per cent of melanomas here.

Low levels of vitamin D, which is mainly synthesised from UV light, has also been linked to depression, osteoporosis and overall risk of death. #But the IARC review said an individual’s deficiency could simply be a consequence, or marker, of poor health, rather than the cause, and supplementation is then unlikely to prevent disease or improve health.

The safest way to maintain adequate vitamin D levels is by eating fortified foods such as milk and oily fish or taking a supplement rather than getting more sun exposure, the Australian and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society, Osteoporosis Australia, the College of Dermatologists and the Cancer Council Australia, said in a joint statement.

THE dire state of Australia’s rural health-care system will be revealed in a television series to be screened overseas.

Desperately Seeking Doctors , a three-part series starting on SBS next month, follows the experiences of doctors working in the bush.

They include GP Mary Fortune, who leaves Scotland to work in Kalgoorlie; Indian-born Alan Majid, who quits his small country town job four months into a three-year contract after losing his patience with local bureaucracy; and final year medical student Nabilah Islam, who is doing her rural practice term with him.

The Australian Medical Association hopes the series will shed light on challenges facing country doctors.

There are more than 1800 doctor vacancies in rural Australia – more than 200 in NSW. AMA president Rosanna Capolingua said it is likely they will never be filled.

"If you are in medicine you can’t open up shop at 9am and close at 5pm," Dr Capolingua said.

"You are on call 24/7. It’s enormously challenging. That said, it’s also very rewarding. There are many doctors who enjoy the engagement with their patients and the responsibility and the lifestyle."

However, the president of the Rural Doctors Association, NSW branch, Ian Kamerman, said many graduates spurn the bush in favour of a more stable appointment in the city or overseas.

Over the past 15 years, fewer than 5 per cent of Queensland and NSW medical graduates have worked in rural areas.

"The thing with rural doctors is it’s like shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic," Dr Kamerman said. "If one person retires or leaves, we have to fill that spot by taking a doctor away from another country town. There is just a chronic shortage."

And the doctors who do stay in the bush are getting older – their average age is 55. The average age of specialists in the bush, such as anaesthetists, obstetricians and surgeons is near 60.

While the AMA is actively recruiting foreign doctors to work in rural areas by advertising in publications such as the British Medical Journal , Dr Kamerman is not sure overseas-trained doctors are the answer to the crisis.

"The last thing you want is to recruit someone from overseas with no orientation," he said.

"They end up being helicoptered into a remote town and they certainly find it a struggle."

Rural doctors work an average of 56 hours a week, with 40 per cent working more than 60 hours a week.

BULLYING in Australian primary schools is in the worst category in the world, a new study of education standards has found.

In the Trends In International Mathematics And Science Study , which surveyed schools in about 40 countries, more than a quarter of Australian year 4 students said they had suffered bullying.

The results have alarmed child-health experts and education bodies, which have been running strict anti-bullying programs in schools over the past six years.

Australian primary school students suffer bullying at a rate of almost 50 per cent above the international average, putting Australia in the worst category for bullying. Of the 36 countries sampled in the survey of year 4 students, only Kuwait, Qatar, Taiwan and New Zealand fared worse than Australia.

The research, which showed Australia lagging behind its neighbours and even Kazakhstan in maths and science education, found more than a quarter of Australian year 4 students had been bullied in at least three ways in the month before they were tested. The study was produced by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. Students were asked whether they had experienced any of five antisocial behaviours in the past month: whether something of theirs had been stolen, whether they had been hurt by other students, whether they had been made to do things against their will, whether they had been teased and whether they had been excluded by others.

In Australia, where almost 460 schools took part in the study, 26percent of year 4 students had encountered at least three of the behaviours in the month in question.

Internationally, 42 per cent of primary students said they had experienced none of the behaviours. In Australia it was less than 33 per cent.

NSW Education Minister Verity Firth would not say whether she was surprised by the figures but said she had strengthened principals’ powers to deal with bullying, increasing suspension periods to 20 days.

"NSW schools are safe places and bullying and stealing are not tolerated," a spokesman for the minister said.

"Every school is required to have an anti-bullying plan. As part of the new annual school reports, principals must now also detail for parents the actions they are taking to stamp out this intolerable behaviour."

The results alarmed the president of the Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations of NSW, Dianne Giblin, who called for strengthening of anti-bullying policies. "Those figures are of huge concern," she said.

"We have some very strong anti-bullying policies in place but schools need to ensure they implement these programs. They need to be reminded of them. The policy needs to be reiterated to students."

"There is a great deal of evidence to show that anti-bullying programs are effective," he said.

However, Stacey Waters, a research fellow at the Child Health Promotion Research Centre at Edith Cowan University in Perth, said there had been no significant change in the prevalence of bullying in Australia. It was the type of bullying that had changed.

"Eighty-three per cent of kids who are face-to-face bullied are also cyber bullied," she said.

THE mother of Tyler Cassidy, the teenager gunned down while menacing police with knives, rejected claims they had no alternative other than to shoot.

Speaking publicly for the first time since her 15-year-old son’s death on Thursday night she said: "He was only 5 foot 7 inches, [1.7 metres] he weighed only 58 kilograms and 10 bullets were fired at him.

"His life was taken from him unnecessarily and prematurely. His fate was not destined for the hands of police," Shani Cassidy said.

At a press conference at her Melbourne home, she said she warned police 30 minutes before the shooting that Tyler had left the house in a confused and distressed state.

"I had faith that the system would protect him from harm. That system failed him."

Yesterday, Tyler’s MySpace site was inundated with more than 400 condolence messages from family and friends, including members of the anti-immigration group, Southern Cross Soldiers.

His mother angrily denied accusations he was involved in the nationalist group.

"He was a 15-year-old school boy. His views were still developing. He attended a multicultural school and many of Tyler’s friends have come to my house in tears," Mrs Cassidy said.

Associate Professor Lewis said training programs needed to equip officers with the skills to undertake an initial risk assessment, followed by a planned response that included the "containment and cordon" of volatile incidents involving knives.

She said an official 2005 police report had noted a number of "disturbing similarities" and "recurring themes" surrounding the 42 fatal police shootings since 1987.

But Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Tim Cartwright said the police had only seconds to respond on Thursday night.

"You have police who are backing off, a young man extremely agitated with two knives and three of them obviously saw the need to fire."

Melissa Kennedy, the wife of a Shepparton man shot dead by police in 2005, said her husband’s death, and that of Tyler, could have been averted if officers were equipped with stun guns.

She said the teenager would still be alive and "those poor police officers would not have to go through with the horrible thought that, ‘Oh no, I’ve killed somebody’ for the rest of their lives".

The stun guns, which deliver a 50,000-volt shock, have been linked with several deaths in the US.

HALF NSW’s teenagers believe their friends spend up to $30 a week on alcohol, a new survey has found. And 16 per cent of teenagers say the weekly grog spend is even higher.

The thirst for alcopops also shows no sign of drying up, despite the Federal Government’s tax hike. Commissioned by NSW Health, the research will add to the controversy over alcopops and whether governments are fuelling moral outrage against youth drinking for political purposes.

Professor Sandra Jones from the University of Wollongong studied 1263 respondents aged between 12-17 years as part of research into the impact of ready-to-drink spirit beverages on young people. Teenage drinking patterns replicated other national surveys of the same target group, she said, with just under 90 per cent reporting they had consumed alcohol.

More than 40 per cent said they had consumed a drink in the past four weeks.

She said the survey results suggest alcohol consumption is seen by adolescents as normal behaviour, even condoned by parents. More than 60 per cent of young people believe alcohol use is common among their friends.

Up to 70 per cent of teenagers surveyed believe their parents support them trying alcohol, although fewer than one in 10 approve of them getting drunk.

“Ready-to-drink beverages remain popular and extremely affordable for young people despite the tax increase this year,” Professor Jones said.

“The research found drinking rates in this country among young people are very high … girls drink them because they feel they can control the rate of consumption and they like the taste. Boys drink them because they are cheap and easy to drink quickly for getting drunk.”

Health Minister John Della Bosca said the NSW Government has to tackle teenage drinking but he rejected suggestions the Government is creating a moral panic for political purposes. He said alcohol abuse is a genuine issue because it places pressure on busy emergency departments and can lead to chronic disease.

Mr Della Bosca said the Government has launched an interactive website to raise awareness among young people and their parents about the risks of binge drinking.

“This situation is serious enough for us to start looking at a major cultural shift in our attitudes towards alcohol and the way advertisers and the alcohol industry promotes alcohol products,” he said.

Australia will look back on this year as a pretty successful one for the Wallabies. We can look to the future with optimism and, although things can quickly change, we are heading in the right direction on the international stage. We managed to win three out of five Tests on the spring tour – plus the win against the Barbarians – which gave us a tally of nine from 14 for the year. The good news is that we’re a team on the way up and those stats could very well improve.

There is a lot of upside to the Australian team at the moment. Robbie Deans, Michael Foley and Jim Williams have done a great job. When I came into the job, the first thing that struck me was the lack of depth in the team. In the modern game, that’s a killer, particularly when players are involved in rugby for up to 10 months of the year. You have to operate on a squad system, something that has taken Australians a while to get their head around. It enables players to perform fresh, while the coaches can put some pressure on players who are competing for spots. We’ll continue to see the Wallabies team being tweaked from week to week in the years to come. Many people dub it the "rotation system" but it’s all about putting the best team on the field. There is little difference between some players and freshness, state of mind and form all come into the reckoning.

We’ve seen the likes of Drew Mitchell, Benn Robinson, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Hugh McMeniman and Stephen Moore all become genuine Test players after taking some time to settle in. The first-year success of Peter Hynes and Dean Mumm has been encouraging. Not everyone can be like John Eales, Jason Little and Tim Horan, who were genuine Test players from the moment they stepped into the international arena. In the modern game, for some it can take a year or two.

Our front-row stocks are stronger than ever, with the likes of Ben Alexander, Robinson, Sekope Kepu and even Al Baxter, who at the age of 31 still appears to have a good year or two left in him. One underrated player for us over a number of years has been Matt Dunning. He had a good year while adapting from loose to tight head. We should hope his recovery from his Achilles injury is swift.

In the lock position, it’s fair to say that Nathan Sharpe, at the age of 31, appears not to be one of Deans’s favourites. However, I think he’s had an outstanding year. When you’ve got guys like Mark Chisholm, McMeniman, James Horwill and Mumm if needed, it’s a good sign. All bar Sharpe and Baxter, they are not older than 27 and all have a number of big years left in the game. With David Pocock ready to take over from George Smith and Phil Waugh, and the emergence of Richard Brown sitting behind Wycliff Palu at No.8, our back-row stocks also look strong.

Our forward improvement has been out of sight. When we talk about forward stocks, we’ve still got the likes of Greg Holmes and Stephen Hoiles trying to force their way into the Wallabies squad. What has been required in the past few years has been a greater focus on technique and skill, which is happening.

There is also promise in the backs. With Sam Cordingley gone, Luke Burgess has come in. He is a talented young man who has struggled for consistency. He can produce a 10/10 performance one week and then throw in a 2/10 the next. He’s definitely more suited to the short-arm penalties of the Super 14, where his running game comes into play. But, at times, his kicking and passing have come under scrutiny at Test level. Like fellow 25-year-old McMeniman, he has had an outstanding first year in the big time after suffering a spate of injuries. If Burgess can string a couple of seasons together, he can be the Australian halfback for a long time. Deans will be scouring the Super 14 for Burgess’s back-up.

At five-eighth, Matt Giteau is still Australia’s best and most dominant back. His goalkicking this year has been magnificent under pressure. Still, I’m not convinced he’s as comfortable at No.10 as he can be but time will solve that. Deans also has Berrick Barnes, Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale as back-up options. For 20 years, the Australian five-eighth scene was dominated by Stephen Larkham and Michael Lynagh. When one of those was hurt, it was always a struggle. We remember the agonising decisions Rod Macqueen had to make taking the punt on Larkham because of the lack of depth. It turned out to be a masterstroke. While depth is always an issue, that’s a position we’ve got covered now.

In the midfield, Stirling Mortlock and Ryan Cross are 31 but you would expect them to play for another couple of years. Cooper and Barnes are also comfortable at No.12, with Ashley-Cooper having an outstanding game against the Barbarians in that position. He’s an outstanding midfield option for the future. We always thought his best position was 13 or 14 but he showed in the Barbarians game that he’s more than comfortable at 12 and he’s playing with a tremendous amount of confidence. Another player on the way up.

Mortlock has grown tremendously as a captain. He fits the job at the moment. I remember talking to Eales about the captaincy and he said it’s something you have to work as hard at off the field as on it. Walking down the tunnel, Mortlock was always the guy you wanted to play with but he had some work to do away from the paddock. That’s something he’s worked at and he’s done a pretty good job this year.

With a good Super 14 season, Australian supporters can look positively to the future. We’ve got some good times ahead.

THE best players make sport look easy. Think of Mark Waugh gliding that shot off his pads or Roger Federer’s grace on the court. And think Geoff Ogilvy, Australia’s top-ranked golfer.

He has a fluent motion that allows him to hit the ball long without apparent effort – enough to make an amateur puke.

More than that, the world No.11 has become the consummate professional in recent years. There is nothing that he does that especially well by the high standards of the players around him. There is nothing he does poorly.

And the Victorian has the X-factor – he knows how to win.

The pre-tournament favourite started yesterday needing to do something special and it soon seemed possible.

He began the third round on the 10th tee and birdied, then hit a beautiful trap shot at the 13th to set up another birdie and holed a four-metre putt at the par-three 15th for another.

At the par-five 16th, he attacked the flag, cut left beside a deep swail. His pitch landed, almost held up on the edge of the green but disappeared into the collection area, leaving him a tricky chip. Ogilvy whipped out his lob wedge and hit the flag with his shot, making a safe par.

At the long par-three 17th, his tee shot disappeared into one of the hollows beside the green.

He chipped it close and made the one-metre par putt.

Then at the 18th he conjured a shot of exquisite beauty, a short iron approach that pierced the wind, landed a metre from the cup and stopped. Another birdie, and just 32 shots for his first nine holes, and Ogilvy was back in the tournament at five-under-par.

That he is out of contention tonight at three-under is due to a particular ailment. Ogilvy has failed to capitalise on Royal Sydney’s par-fives.

And with the wind whipping up, last week’s PGA champion drifted further down the leaderboard .

Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald has warned voting members that a divided board would spell disaster as the battle for control of the Eels threatens to spill from the ballot box into the courtroom.

Members will decide whether to retain the current board or elect a rebel ticket headed by Ray Price, Brett Kenny and Eric Grothe at today’s football club election.

However, the result won’t end the infighting between the factions, with rebel spokesman Terry Leabeater threatening to sue Fitzgerald over comments he made describing Kenny, Grothe and Price as having "unsuccessful working careers".

Fitzgerald, meanwhile, is taking legal action against News Ltd after Leabeater reportedly claimed the veteran chief executive had squandered tens of millions of dollars during his reign.

Fitzgerald, who has kept a low profile throughout the campaign, hit back against Leabeater’s allegations on the eve of the vote.

"What I will say is the figures that were put forward by Terry Leabeater … [he] has been telling lies about the situation from a position of very little knowledge," Fitzgerald told The Sun-Herald. "He is relying on rumours. If anything, Leabeater’s presence as a consultant and speaker on behalf of the rebel team is very much to the incumbent board’s advantage."

Former Wests, Bulldogs and Eels prop Leabeater retaliated by threatening defamation proceedings against Fitzgerald as the feud between the parties took another ugly twist.

"If they’re going to start playing this game, we can do it too," Leabeater said yesterday. It cut our guys to the bone, those little comments. There was no need for it at all.

"My attack would not have happened until [current director] Geoff Gerard came out and personally attacked [rebel members]."

Should neither side gain complete control of the board, Price promised the successful rebels would be prepared to work with the board members they were unable to overthrow.

However, Fitzgerald, who recently celebrated his 30th year as CEO of the club, urged members to keep the status quo to avoid a split board.

"I hope they would realise that a divided board would be no good for the continuing success of the club," Fitzgerald said.

"I would like to think the majority of our football members, who have been very loyal Parramatta supporters and most have been long-term football club members, realise the good job the current board has done over a long period of time."

The rebels have pointed to Parramatta’s 22-year premiership drought throughout their campaign – and the fact that Fitzgerald has been the common denominator throughout the period. However, the CEO, whose position is safe regardless of today’s vote, pointed to the current board’s business acumen and the fact that the Eels have won the club championship nine out of the past 12 years.

"We have a very experienced board with a combination of skills who have been willing to do a huge amount of work for the club over decades," said Fitzgerald, who added his team was "quietly confident" of success today.

While both sides have traded threats, barbs and insults, Price said there was no personal vendetta against Fitzgerald.

"We don’t care about Fitzy. This is about giving the football club a bit of discipline and power and passion," Price said. "We’ll be able to work with [Fitzgerald]. If they haven’t got it in their minds that the club comes first, they should bugger off now."

"We’re doing this for the club because we want to see it back up where it deserves to be."

Kenny added: "It’s not a personal thing. We just want to get in and do things to improve the place."

IT’S been a Tiger frenzy these past few days with some sections of the media asking everyone but the gatekeeper what they think about efforts to get Tiger Woods to Australia in the not-too-distant future.

Stuart Appleby surely gave the best assessment.

"If we do get him, great. We need to understand that it may be a one-in-10-year experience. He is not going to play forever," he said. "We may get him once or twice in a 10-year period. We have to be aware that if we get him one year and don’t get him the next year, that’s cool.

"We don’t want to have a date with a supermodel and all of a sudden you are going out with someone else who is not so beautiful."

Scott drops bundle With Adam Scott’s withdrawal from both last week’s PGA and the Australian Open because of the knee injury suffered exiting the ocean after a spot of bodysurfing, the budget for both tournaments improved a little.

Scott, as a top-10 ranked player in the world at the time he signed the contract to play the events, received an appearance fee – estimated to be around the $100,000 mark – but his no-show cancelled that.

Not so saintly Next year’s Open is being played for the first time at the picturesque NSW GC layout on the cliffs of La Perouse, but the logistics of getting a big crowd in and out of the course are still being worked out.

The logical solution is to use neighbouring St Michael’s for parking and spectator entry access, but apparently the club is playing hard ball when it comes to appropriate compensation.

Coolum reception A bit belated, but a yarn well worth telling.

At Coolum last week, professional celebrity Deborah Hutton played with John Collins, of the band Powderfinger, and former star tennis player Todd Woodbridge in the Australian PGA pro-am – and they won.

Hutton was nominated by her teammates to make the victory speech and accept the trophies on their behalf. "I won’t be accepting any of these Srixon prizes. I’m a Callaway girl," she said, and immediately sat down.

So stunned was the assembled audience you could have almost heard a pin drop.

Shearer ready to rule? Sighted at Royal Sydney was 1982 Australian Open champion Bob Shearer riding in a golf cart with Australasian PGA Tour rules official Russell Swanson, himself a former tour player.

Could it be that Shearer is embarking on another facet of his career?

He has already completed the club rules test at his home club of Southern in Melbourne and is starting the more advanced state rules course.